The fellowship will be offered to SEAYLP alumni who attend a degree program, either a bachelor’s or master’s degree, at NIU. Two hundred and six students from 10 Southeast Asian countries have gone through the program’s seven sessions. Students attending the 2015 or 2016 programs also will be eligible.

“It is our hope that a number of these SEAYLP alumni will join us here at Global NIU, and with an NIU degree return to the region to create the kind of positive change they have spent their time in SEAYLP imagining and planning,” Baker said during a farewell reception for program participants.

Participants hail from 10 Southeast Asian nations: Brunei, Cambodian, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar/Burma, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. They are chosen by the U.S. embassies in their home countries through rigorous screenings.

Highly praised by the U.S. State Department, SEAYLP aims to:

develop leadership skills,

increase appreciation for cultural similarities and differences,

gain increased awareness of and appreciation for ethnic, religious and national diversity,

instill a drive for civic participation, community service and coalition building, and

increase understanding of global and regional challenges and opportunities.

Upon their return to their home countries, many of the young students have embarked on community service projects ranging from garbage clean-up campaigns, to volunteering at a pediatric cancer hospital, to founding a library, to starting a reading room at an orphanage. They have gone on to start NGOs, work for their respective governments and pursue academic careers.

“We believe this new scholarship program will further strengthen our relationships in Southeast Asia, an area of specialization at NIU over the past five decades, and also strengthen U.S. relationships with this important region of the world,” he added.

“I am excited about the future of SEAYLP,” Ledgerwood said. “We look forward to hosting two more groups in 2015 and 2016, and to welcoming back SEAYLP alumni from across the region to complete their studies here at Northern.”